Deuteronomy 32:7 - Meaning and Application

Moses has already shown Israel that God was their great benefactor, and therefore they were bound to obey him out of gratitude. Here he names specific examples of God’s kindness and care. Some of those acts were very old, so Moses points them back to the records of former times: “Remember the days of old” (Deuteronomy 32:7). That means they were to keep the history of God’s dealings in mind, both in the old world and in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those old histories are valuable, especially the early history of God’s people in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Other acts of kindness were more recent, and for those Moses appeals to their fathers and elders who were still living among them. Parents must carefully teach their children not only God’s word and laws (Deuteronomy 6:7), and the meaning of his ordinances (Exodus 12:26-27), but also his works and the ways he has guided history. Children should want to learn these things, because they help them obey God and know how to live. Psalm 78:3-7 says the same thing. God’s care for Israel gave them strong reasons never to turn away from him.

The first great example is the early choice of Canaan as their inheritance. Long before Israel entered it, God had already prepared that land for them. When the earth was divided among the sons of men in the days of Peleg, after the flood, God had Israel in mind. He ordered the descendants of Canaan to settle there for a time, as if they were holding the land until Israel was ready to receive it. Their line was under Noah’s curse (Genesis 9:25), so they could be removed at the proper time in a way that was just and fitting. God fixed the boundaries of nations with Israel’s future in view, so they would have exactly what they needed.

This shows several things. God has appointed the limits of where people live and how long they live there (Acts 17:26). He gives the earth to people, but not in a way that lets everyone seize whatever he wants (Psalm 115:16). He divides lands among nations and expects each to respect its own place. It also shows that God’s wisdom reaches far ahead. He plans long before the events happen, and what he decides at the start appears later in history (Acts 15:18; Ecclesiastes 3:11). Above all, when God governs the world and directs kingdoms, he especially watches over his church and people, and he works for their good in all things (2 Chronicles 16:9; Isaiah 45:4).

The Canaanites may have thought they had a solid right to the land, but God meant them only to be temporary holders until Israel came. In this way, God carries out his kindness to his people through others who do not know him and do not intend to help his people at all. Their hearts do not think in God’s way (Isaiah 10:7; Micah 4:12). Yet he uses them to serve his purpose.

The reason God chose Israel so early makes his kindness even greater: “For the Lord’s portion is his people” (Deuteronomy 32:9). The whole world belongs to him, but his church is his in a special way. It is his own field, vineyard, and enclosed garden. He delights in it, lives among it, and keeps it as the apple of his eye. He also looks for special honor from it, more than from all the rest of the world. It is easy to understand why God is the portion of his people, since he is their joy and life. But it is far harder to explain why they are his portion, since he gains nothing from them. That can only be understood as free grace, God’s undeserved kindness.

The second great example is the forming of Israel into a people ready to take the inheritance when the time came. This too points ahead to the heavenly inheritance. From eternity, God prepared it for all his spiritual Israel, and in time he fits them for it, making them ready to receive it (Colossians 1:12). The rescue of Israel from slavery, and the destruction of their enemies, was full of visible miracles and had been spoken of often, so Moses does not dwell on it here. Instead, he speaks of God’s work in shaping the people themselves, because that may be less noticed than the miracles done for them.

He found Israel in a desert land (Deuteronomy 32:10). This refers, first, to the wilderness through which God led them to Canaan, where he trained and cared for them. It is called the church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38). There they were born, fed, and taught, so that all would be clearly from God, since they had no help there from the world around them. But the words also point to their poor condition and poor character when God first began to act for them. Egypt was like a desert to them, a waste and howling wilderness, because they were enslaved there, groaning under oppression and unable to help themselves. God found them there and brought them out. Their condition was desperate, and their hearts were no more promising than their situation.

The people were so ignorant about divine things, so dull in receiving them, so irritable and stubborn, and so deeply tied to the idols of Egypt, that they could well be called found in a desert land. It would be as reasonable to expect a crop from a barren wilderness as to expect good service to God from a people like that. Those renewed and made holy by grace should often remember what they were by nature.

He led him around and taught him. When God had them in the wilderness, he did not take them straight to Canaan. He made them travel by a longer route, and in that way he taught them. He did this, first, by giving them time to learn and by giving commandments as they were able to bear them. Those who teach others should not expect learning to happen all at once, and learners need time to grow. Second, he used this to test their faith, patience, and trust in him, and to train them through the hardships of the wilderness.

Every stage had something that taught them. Even when he disciplined them, he was teaching them from his law. Psalm 107:7 says he led them by the right way, and here it says he led them around. God always leads his people the right way, even when it seems roundabout to us. The longest way around may prove not to be the shortest way, but it is still the best way home to Canaan. Nehemiah 9:13 explains how he taught them, with right judgments, true laws, good statutes, and commandments. And especially in Deuteronomy 32:20, it says he gave them his good Spirit to instruct them. He teaches effectively. They would have been very unfit for Canaan if they had not first gone through the discipline of the wilderness.

He kept him as the apple of his eye, with every care and tenderness. He protected them from the harsh sun, open air, and all the dangers of a dry and unfriendly desert. The pillar of cloud and fire was both their guide and their guard.

He also did for them what an eagle does for her young ones, as described in Deuteronomy 32:11-12. The image was first hinted at in Exodus 19:4, where God said, "I carried you on eagles' wings." Here it is explained more fully. The eagle shows strong love for her young, not only by protecting them and feeding them, as other animals do, but by training them to fly. She stirs them out of the nest, flutters over them to show them how to use their wings, and then leads them to fly on her wings until they can fly on their own.

This is also a lesson for parents, who should train their children for useful work and not spoil them with laziness and comfort. God did this with Israel. When they loved their slavery and were unwilling to leave it, God, through Moses, stirred them up to seek liberty, and often kept them from going back to the house of bondage. He brought them out of Egypt, led them into the wilderness, and at last led them through it. The Lord alone led him. He needed no help, and he took no partner in the work. That was a good reason why they should serve the Lord only, and not place any other god alongside him, much less against him. No foreign god helped Israel to salvation, so none should share in Israel’s worship and praise (Psalm 81:9).

Third, God settled them in a good land. This had already begun in the happy planting of the two and a half tribes, which was a promise of what would soon and surely be done for the rest. He gave them glorious victories over their enemies (Deuteronomy 32:13). He made them ride on the high places of the earth, meaning he brought them on in conquest and brought them home in triumph. They rode over the strong places that had stood against them and then rested in honor on the fruitful hills of Canaan. In Egypt they were poor and despised, but in Canaan they were great and enriched. They rode in state, as a people whom the King of kings was pleased to honor.

He also gave them great plenty of every good thing. This included not only the usual produce of the land, but even honey from the rock and oil from the flinty rock. That may point either to the miraculously supplied water from the rock in the wilderness, called honey and oil because it was so sweet and welcome in their need, or to the rich supply of honey and oil they would find in Canaan, even in the least fertile places. The rocks in Canaan would yield better produce than the fields and meadows of other lands. Deuteronomy 32:14 adds more of Canaan’s blessings. They would have such abundance and such variety of healthy food, each thing the best of its kind, that every meal could be a feast if they wanted. There would be fine bread from the best grain, butter and milk in plenty, well-fed cattle, and for drink, the pure blood of the grape.

God was a loving Father to them and a generous provider. Ainsworth takes the plenty of Canaan as a picture of the fruitfulness of Christ’s kingdom and the comfort found in his word and Spirit. For the children of his kingdom, he gives butter and milk, the pure milk of the word, and strong food for strong believers, along with the wine that makes the heart glad.